CFO Studio Magazine with Craig Steeneck, CFO, Pinnacle Foods

30 WWW.CFOSTUDIO.COM 3rd QUARTER 2015 Harald Henn, VP and CFO Mercedes-Benz, USA Discussion Leader Meeting Participants and CFO of Mercedes-Benz USA, served as the dinner discussion moderator. “People often think in terms of product, rather than service, or they think process instead of culture. But all of these things have to coexist to be successful,” said Mr. Henn. “The CFO’s job is to create growth, and you can’t do that without customers,” said Richard Veldran, CFO of Dun & Bradstreet. “Regardless of your industry, customer service is essential.” “No matter what your role is, we all have to focus on the customer experience every day,” said Ronald Gaboury, CEO of Yorktel. “All the executives are, in effect, partners in serving customers.” “The level of customer care a company provides is a distinct competitive advantage or disadvantage,” said Andrew Zezas, publisher of CFO Studio magazine and CEO of Real Estate Strategies Corporation. “With today’s CFOs becoming more and more strategic, they are becoming more focused on how they can help support their companies in delivering the highest level of customer care.” Gunther Mertens, vice president and CFO of Agfa Corporation, said he believes that C-level executives, regardless of the business function for which they have primary responsibility, have to be concerned with providing high-quality customer service to ensure that their company is serving the customers end-to-end. “Customer service is more than recruiting and managing order-takers,” said Mr. Mertens. “It is about managing the process from the sale to delivery to support. If you hire the right people throughout that process, your business becomes a trusted partner.” “To really support business, I have to be in the know about the customers, said Burkhard Zoller, CFO of Evonik Corporation. Mr. Zoller is in the specialty chemicals industry and pointed out that while the Internet allows some consumer companies, such as Mercedes and Avis, to have access to immediate customer feedback, business-to-business organizations have to actively seek out feedback on the customer experience. Maximo Nougues, CFO of Maquet Medical Systems USA, agreed. “Today, in the medical engineering industry, the customer experience has become much more important than it has ever been.” Mr. Nougues went on to explain that sales is just the first step in winning and retaining business. “The moment you earn a customer’s business, you are at a disadvantage because now you have to earn their business every day. The competition then has the advantage of being unknown.” “Even if customer service isn’t your direct responsibility, it is your responsibility as a leader in your company to demonstrate to the other employees that you are focused on customer service,” said David Wyshner, senior executive vice president and CFO of Avis Budget Group, Inc. Mr. Wyshner also said that among the typical numbers and descriptions contained in an annual report, Avis dedicates a few pages to the “voice of the customer,” because that sheds light on corporate performance. Mr. Henn shared the fact that Mercedes benchmarks customer service not just against companies within the auto industry, but against outside industries as well — from hospitality to e-commerce — to find customer care best practices. Robert Costantini, executive vice president and CFO of ORBCOMM, Inc., summarized: “Nothing [in business] happens unless you have customers, so you better have happy customers. ACFOwill always deal with customer service at some point. Proactive CFOs get on it on the front end.” C Promotional Partner Ronald Gaboury CEO Yorktel Robert Costantini EVP and CFO ORBCOMM, Inc. Claude Draillard VP, Finance and CFO Dassault Falcon Jet Corporation Gunther Mertens VP and CFO Agfa Corporation Maximo Nougues CFO Maquet Medical Systems USA Richard Veldran CFO Dun & Bradstreet David Wyshner Senior EVP and CFO Avis Budget Group, Inc. Burkhard Zoller CFO Evonik Corporation EVENTS EXECUTIVE DINNER SERIES